Elizabeth Olsen Worked Hard To Put Herself Through College

March 10th, 2012 6:18pm EST

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Elizabeth Olsen recently obtained her real estate license for extra income to help put herself through college.

The break-out star, and younger sister to designer twins Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen, has dreamed of gracing the big screen ever since she was a young girl, but she refused to rely on her last name as a way to make it happen.

She tells Reuters, "I started to develop this complex thinking: 'If I'm going to be an actor, no one's going to take me seriously, so I'm going to overcompensate and do as much training as possible, so that I know that I have something no one can take away from me.'"

The 23 year old went off to study at New York University's prestigious Tisch School of the Arts and later took up two side jobs to help support herself along the way.

She adds, "(I was) understudying an off-Broadway play where they don't have room for the understudies, so you're writing your essay about the New Testament underneath a spiral staircase - very low moment! But the whole time I was thinking, 'I'm getting my Equity card and I'm going to get health insurance from this and that's really cool to have.'

"I also got my real estate license when I was 18 in New York state... I didn't want to work at a restaurant because I can't deal with people who are rude to waiters."

Photo Credits: PR Photos; PacificCoastNews.com

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